Zero Escape: The Hidden Timeline
by LavieTyme
Summary: Sigma has been drawn to a new timeline, and finds that his ex-girlfriend has replaced the little boy that Tenmyouji cared so much about, but the thing is, she doesn't remember him. Why did he end up in this timeline when it seems so different from the ones before?


My vision was already hazy before white gas started to fill the room, though from being tired or drunk, I didn't know. I had just gotten back from a local bar, in a cab, and had been lying on my couch for only a few minutes before I noticed the gas. That's when I started to panic. In an instant, I was up from the couch with my hand over my mouth, and ran towards the bathroom door. I was almost there, but I tripped on my own feet and onto the floor, which was covered in white. My vision started to go dark and my eyelids drooped. I knew I had to fight the effects of the gas, but it was no use seeing as I was both drunk and tired, and the white gas only eased me into sleep. This is the only time I'll let this happen, I swore to myself, and passed out. "Damn it!" I shouted. "Damn it all!" I raised my left hand and slammed it into a wall. I glared at my left wrist, a bracelet with the number 3 and the word "pair" wrapped around it. In rage I violently tugged at it, trying to get it off, but to no avail. I groaned and slumped against a wall, sliding down it until I reached the floor, and wrapped my arms around my head. "A-are you alright?" a small voice asked. I peeked through a crevice in my arms at a young woman standing in a corner of the room. I looked at her left wrist; a bracelet was wrapped around her wrist that was an exact copy of my own. She looked kind of scared of me, but I wouldn't blame her; I tended to have a bad temper. She slowly crept forward and stretched out her hand. I eyed it suspiciously, but reached out my hand and grasped hers. "You look sort of pale," she speculated as she helped me off of the floor. "Do you feel alright?" My eyes met hers and I managed a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just…" I started, but trailed off. "I just… I don't really know." How could I be fine? I had been kidnapped, and I didn't think it was right that they grabbed me when I was drunk; they had an unfair advantage. Still, I didn't feel any effects of being drunk, like I should have when I woke up. I was just a little dizzy, probably because of the gas, yet there was no sign of a hangover. Maybe I was lucky, and the type of gas I had been hit with would dull the effects of a hangover… yeah, I doubted that. "If you don't mind me asking," the woman said. "What is your name?" I glanced at her for a moment, unsure of whether or not to answer her. She widened her eyes and looked away. "I-I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just thought that if you had been kidnapped as well, w-we would have something in common, and we would be able to trust each other, even if only a little bit, and…" "Wait, did you say you were kidnapped, too?" I asked, cutting her off. She looked at me once again and nodded. "On December 26th, 2028. There was this white smoke, and a man in a gasmask," she said. I looked at her in confusion. "You saw who kidnapped you?" I asked. She hesitated for a moment before answering. "Well, not really. Like I said before, he was wearing a mask. I saw nothing of his face," she answered. I cursed under my breath and walked towards the big door in the room. Next to it was a screen, an image of a rabbit, and buttons with numbers, a lot like an elevator, but the rest of the room was strange. There was a machine on the opposite side of the room, as well as a fire extinguisher, a poster on how to use one, and a box with a picture of a fire extinguisher and keyhole. On the right wall there was a rail and some numbers above it, as well as the left wall. The only difference was the image above the numbers. The right wall had a picture of a baby on it, and the left wall had a picture of an old person. There was also a poster of many different people of all ages on it. "My name is Luna. O-of course you don't need to tell me your name," she said quickly. "I just felt that you should know mine." I managed a small smile and held out my hand. "I'm Cricket." I wasn't really sure if she believed me or not, but she didn't give anything away if she did. "It's nice to meet you." She nodded and smiled brightly, but that only lasted for a few seconds when her eyes widened and she looked past my shoulder. "Cricket, look behind you," she said with a shaky voice. I turned as fast as I could to see that the screen had turned on. I shrieked when I saw the rabbit, and I received a concerned look from Luna. I didn't have time to tell her about my fear of rabbits before it started to talk. "How're you feeling? I am Zero lll! The king of this kingdom." "Shit! It can talk!" I said, slowly stepping behind Luna. She stood frozen in place, and didn't seem to notice that I was hiding behind her. The rabbit, or rather, Zero lll, started to talk again. "I'm sure you've got looooots of questions! It just seems silly to have a big old chit-chat right now, soooo… I'm gonna give you a game to play!" "A game?" Luna said. She seemed to be as confused as I was, although I don't think she was thinking the same thing I was. I'm sure it was very different from "Get me outa here! I'm not going to play a game a rabbit wants us to play! Maybe if it was a dog or a cat, but not a freaking rabbit!" "Yes yes yes! And I'm calling it…" Zero lll said. I waited for only a moment, dreading what he was going to say. "The NONARY GAAAAAAME! AMBIDEX EDITIOOOOON!" He paused for effect, but the silence didn't last for long. "There's more to it! Lots more! But if I told you now, that'd be cheating. So hurry up and get out! I'll be waaaaiting!" I managed to get over my fear long enough for me to run towards the screen, as I thought he was going to disappear, but when he spoke again, I reeled back in surprise. "Oh, right! I forgot to tell you the most. Important. Thing. This elevator you're in… It's gonna fall in a few minutes. Waaaaaay down. So you'd better get moving. I'll see you later. Have a nice trick," Zero finished, and then finally disappeared. I sat frozen on the ground, slowly processing what he said. This elevator is going to fall? I looked up at Luna, who was staring down at me. She looked worried, but I had a feeling she wasn't worried about me. Slowly, she stuck out her hand and helped me up again, but before I could ask her if she was okay, she walked towards the machine in the back. I didn't want to bother her, so I looked around until my eyes rested on the poster. On the top of the poster was text I hadn't notice before when I first scanned the room. It said, "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18." Honestly, it made no sense to me, but I continued to study the poster, and I had a crazy idea. I looked down at the buttons under the image of the older person and pressed the number 7. It didn't really do anything but light up, but I left it alone and turned to the buttons under the baby image. I studied the poster for a few seconds before looking up and pressing the number 4. "Ah-HA!" I shouted, thinking I was successful, but nothing happened. I waited a few minutes, still expecting something, anything, to happen, but nothing did. I hung my head and heard Luna walking a short distance towards me. She stayed quiet for several moments, studying the poster and the buttons. "Maybe there's something we're missing here," she said, but instead of looking further at the poster, she walked around the room. I watched her curiously as she looked. "Cricket, look," she finally said, halting in front of the screen where Zero had appeared. Under it was an image similar to the others, except that it was a rabbit. I shivered and walked only a little bit closer to where Luna was standing. "How many rabbits are on the poster?" She asked me. I didn't need to look, as there were zero, and I wouldn't have even touched the poster if it had any. "Zero, thankfully," I replied. She quickly pressed the button. Immediately afterwards, there was a small click and a blue card popped out of a small slot beneath the rabbit image. Luna gasped and pulled it out. "It's a memory card," she said, and handed it to me. I looked at the card, but I didn't have a clue what to do with it, so I handed it back to her, so she could look at it some more. Her eyes lit up and she walked over to the machine and inserted it into a blue slot. "What just happened?" I asked. She turned and pointed at two other slots in green and red. "I think we need to find all of the memory cards to turn on this monitor," she said. I walked over to where she stood and inspected the monitor. It seemed as though she was right, although I didn't know how that would help us escape. Still, I continued to help her look for them. 


End file.
